Katharine Close
Dream Catchers My family is neither the biggest nor the smallest around. Tracking back to my great grandparents on both sides, lets begin with my mother’s side. My great-grandfather, John Daniel Burns, was born on December 20, 1924 in Blanchard, Oklahoma. He Married Betty Jeanne Freeman who was born in November 8, 1942 and she was 16 when they wed. They moved to Del City in 1942, and then again to Bethany in 1946. John Daniel, or J.D. as we all called him, was half Cherokee Indian and Betty Jean was a quarter Cherokee. When it came time to have the government put the Indians names on the role, my great grandfather was too prideful and did not wish to have his name included on the roster. Not knowing at the time, that today it was affect my school tuition and I could have had my kids for free if he had put his name on the rolls. This to him was looked at as a racial profiling that said Native Americans needed to be financially helped out by the government. My great grandfather thought that was absurd and declined the help. My great grandparents had my grandfather, Greg Burns on September 3,1943, when they moved to Oklahoma City. My grandfather being Cherokee never grew up learning any of the native language, but I can remember him taking naps in his chair and he would sing Indian songs in his sleep. This seemed to me that his roots were imbedded in him and so was his culture. The media sees Indians as the minorities and people who live in teepees and wear feathers on their heads. Typical stereotypical, however, though my family did not dress this way or have the long hair, they did have tan skin and were peaceful people like most Indians and believed in the importance of listening to your dreams. You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important My other great grandfather, Dean Vestal Baird was born Janurary 7, 1911 and he married Lorene Ewing born in June 29 1917, in the spring of 1940. They grew up together in Oklahoma City, and then moved to Beaumont, Texas where they had four girls and then moved back to Oklahoma City in the 1950s. Sandra Lee Baird was the second to be born of the girls and this is my grandmother. When I spoke with my grandmother about this project, I asked her how it was growing up being a blonde haired, blued eyed white girl in the fifties? She told me that she knew that blacks and whites weresegregated but they had a black housekeeper by the name of Alice. This woman was like an extension of the family my grandmother told me. One time Alice’s husband, showed up in a raging fit at their house and he use to beat up on Alice. So, my great grandfather Dean, told him never to come back around her anymore and that she would be living with them from now on. So he moved Alice into the guesthouse in the back and let her live there. This was not like many white homes my grandmother says, she said not many people she knew had someone of color living with them, but the girls loved Alice and she loved them back. Barbie Couple Greg Burns and Sandy Baird met at school and were voted most popular couple. He was the talk dark and handsome star football player at Putnam City Original and she was the lead in all the high school plays, blonde hair, and fare skin big blue eyes. A typical “Barbie” looking couple. We see this portrayed a lot in our media that this is the type of people who end up together. They were married in 1964 and lived in Norman, Oklahoma were my grandfather played football for the University of Oklahoma and my grandmother attended for two years. They moved to Kansas City Missouri for a year in 1966, and then finally made a home in Oklahoma City where they had two kids, Kellie and Darren. Dad's Side My Dad’s grandparents Lenes Norton "L. N." Close was born December1918, July 3, 2000. My great grandmother, Dorthy Close Dorothy was a daughter of Cliff and Nondus (Lowe) Dawson. She married "L. N." Close on September 6,1936 in Ford, Kanssas. They had three sons-- Ken, Bob, and my grandpa, Richard. L. N. died on June 30, 2000 in Oklahoma City, where they made their home for many years. His other grandparents, Willa May (Billy) who was born August 20, 1912 and Melvin McClure--- Born in 1917 were married in 1937. They had twin girls, Jan & Jean. Both of these great grandparents were of Irish decent. Tracing back my family line, this is where some of my red hair shows through. The Irish back then had a difficult time finding work when they came to American, so my great grandfathers, L.N. and Melvin was both entrepreneurs and both started their businesses from the bottom up. One was a salesman and he traded and bartered with anyone and the other was in oil. Richard Wayne "Dick" Close is the youngest of the three sons of L. N. and Dorothy (Dawson) Close. He and Jan McClure were married on June 2,1961 in Bethany, Oklahoma. They have two children, Brett Alan Close and Jeana Carol Osborn. My dad and aunt attended Putnam City West High School where they met my mom and uncle. My parents were married in 1967 and bought a house in Oklahoma City. My dad was a high school teacher, boys basketball coach, and girls golf coach for Mustang High school in Mustang, Oklahoma. I remember him talking about how his team was predominately made up of white country boys, and there was one kid that was half white and half black and he had a big afro and the boys called him fuzzy because of his hair texture, though he did not seem to mind, the media and movies seems to show black basketball players such as in the Movie “Fat Albert” where they have afros and comb picks sticking out of their hair. This is a stereotype we see a lot in the media Sista Sista My parents had me, then my two little sisters after that. We grew up going to a middle school where white was the minority. It was mostly blacks and Hispanics. My best friend growing up was black and I remember her dad telling my mom that they loved me but they would not want her to every marry someone who is white. My mom asked him why this was, and he told her that marriage is already hard enough. He said her kids would have a set of white grandparents and a set of black grandparents. This, he said is just two different cultural types. I will never forget that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think even from white we have seen from shows like ''Teen Mom ''and ''The Real Housewives, ''marriage is difficult no matter the mixtures of race. I think that the media portrays it to be like a fairy tale or to be filled with drama and that is just a fabrication of day-to-day living. People do not always live in extremes but the media puts emphasis on racial and gender stereotypes that either make social interactions seems to be this grandeur idea filled with euphoria’s or explode with unnecessary hateful comments and racial slurs. Family Tree Tracing back my family genealogy is very interesting to see all the different cultures come together and get me to where I am today. It is interesting to see how decisions that deal with race and gender back then have and still affect my financial opportunities and me today.